Avestar Capital LLC Takes $220,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after acquiring an additional 797,843 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $279,351,000 after acquiring an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after acquiring an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 175.7% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 331,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,257,000 after acquiring an additional 211,010 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.71 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $141.12 and its 200 day moving average is $130.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.